College GPA and Graduate School

Graduate School
1

<p>For graduate school, is it better to have a 3.3 GPA from an ivy league school or a 3.7 from a school like Tufts, Emory, or Vanderbilt?</p>

2

<p>The latter.</p>

3

<p>See, it’s posts like this that make it hard for me to take CC seriously. “Yeah, Tufts and Emory and Vanderbilt are totally lesser schools!” Geez.</p>

4

<p>The latter.</p>

5

<p>I’m curious about the answer to this question with Ivy League vs. Podunk State School. But Ivy vs. other highly ranked and regarded institutions? Silly question.</p>

6

<p>Depends on the program. </p>

<p>I would assume a podunk state school (non-flagship) might not have the same research resources and facilities as bigger schools, so 3.3 + research > 3.7 + no research in the hard sciences.</p>

7

<p>There’s another assumption underlying the original question: that it’s easier to get better grades at universities that are ranked slightly lower than the Ivies. </p>

<p>If you get into, say, Cornell and Vanderbilt, you cannot assume that you’ll get a higher GPA by attending Vandy. </p>

<p>Choose your college for its resources, academic strength in your intended major, and general fit to your personality. If you take advantage of the research and academic opportunities and if you get to know your professors well doing so, you can have a GPA from 3.5 to 4.0 and still get into a top program. Podunk U? You’ll have to work harder to create a stronger profile by arranging for high-quality experiences over your summers. That’s all.</p>

8

<p>echo Oyama.
Depends on the program/department/professor; No openings or lack of department funds on a limited number of spots will negate anything that you may have.</p>

9

<p>I agree with Momwaitingfornew to an extent. It seems like I’ve read articles about grade inflation at Ivies on CC before.</p>

<p>My opinion is that it is easier to get good grades at an Ivy than a 2nd tier school, but that’s probably because I didn’t get accepted to any top tier schools (nor did I apply), so my opinion isn’t really relevant (or unbiased). I go to a Big Ten university (Purdue) for engineering, and I’d 100% pit my degree against any similar degree offered at an Ivy. Bigger universities typically have more research opportunities and $. It all depends on your field and what you want to do with your degree.</p>